This invention relates to an electrical connection box to be mounted on a vehicle or the like, and more particularly to an electrical connection box in which a body and a mounting member to be mounted on the body are releasably connected together through a hinge.
An electrical connection box (also called a junction block) includes a body including a housing having a plurality of electronic parts (such for example as fuses, relays, etc.) received therein, and an electronic control unit (ECU) (serving as a mounting member) having a control circuit for controlling the plurality of electronic parts.
Generally, the above electrical connection box is constructed such that the electronic control unit is incorporated in the housing of the body (see, for example, Patent Literature 1). In recent years, however, in order to enhance the efficiency of maintenance in the event of a malfunction of the control circuit or the electronic control unit and also to reduce the cost required for exchanging parts, there have been used electrical connection boxes of the type in which an electronic control unit having a control circuit received in a housing separate from a housing of a body is fixedly attached to the body by fixing means such as a lock, a hinge, screws or others (see, for example, Patent Literature 2).
In the electrical connection box disclosed in Patent Literature 2, the electronic control unit and the body are fixed to each other by a hinge and locks so that the former can be easily attached to the body with less time and labor. This hinge includes a hook formed at one end of the electronic control unit, and a hook receiving recess which is formed at one end of the body such that the hook can be rotatably and releasably received in this hook receiving recess. The lock includes a lock arm formed at the other end of the electronic control unit, and a lock arm insertion hole which is formed in the other end of the body such that the lock arm can be engaged in this lock arm insertion hole. In this electrical connection box, the hook is engaged in the hook receiving recess, and then the electronic control unit is rotatably moved toward the body about the hook, so that the lock arm is engaged in the lock arm insertion hole, thereby fixing the electronic control unit to the body.                [Patent Literature 1] JP-A-2006-187052        [Patent Literature 2] JP-A-9-163552        
However, in the electrical connection box disclosed in the above Patent Literature 2, a predetermined clearance is to be formed between the electronic control unit and the body, taking into consideration problems with the mounting operation and dimensional irregularities inevitably developing in the production. Therefore, there has been encountered a problem that after the electronic control unit is attached to the body, a relative shaking movement develops between the two.
Furthermore, particularly in the electrical connection box disclosed in the above Patent Literature 2, the electronic control unit, while rotatably moved about the hinge, is mounted onto the body, and therefore it is necessary to provide the larger clearance as compared with the type of electrical connection box in which an electric control unit is attached to a body while the two are moved linearly toward each other, and this has invited a problem that the shaking movement is large because of this increased clearance.
The above problem can be dealt with, for example, by fixing the electronic control unit and the body together by screws after the electronic control unit is attached to the body. In this case, however, there arises another problem that the number of component parts and the time and labor required for the attaching operation increase.